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Bloggers with influence, do you know how to connect with them?

If your goal is to be recognized in the ranks with other influential bloggers one day, here’s something you should know… content isn’t king. Yes, I know that statement may go against everything you’ve heard since entering the blogosphere, but I’m here to tell you that statement is indeed the truth.

I’ve been an active part of the blogosphere for the past 3 months now and I’ve been getting down and dirty in the trenches building solid relationships with influential bloggers. And quite frankly, that’s the very reason why I’ve been able to drive 19,828+ visitors and create an engaging community on a blog that’s only 3 months old.

As I’ve gone along in my blog building adventures, I’ve encountered many new bloggers who are struggling with the concept of reaching out and connecting with influential bloggers in their niche. So this article is going to detail step-by-step exactly how to start, build and maintain solid relationships with influential bloggers.

How To Connect with Influential Bloggers

(1) Start by sharing their content on social networks – This first step is ridiculously easy. It really doesn’t take much effort to just point and click the retweet and share buttons on their posts. A lot of new bloggers have a scarcity mentality and are afraid of sharing other people’s content with their following. This is usually because they think that their readers are going to jump ship and unsubscribe from their RSS feed because they favor the influential bloggers content. Or it maybe it’s because they want to keep all the good stuff to themselves. Either way, you can’t afford to be stingy when it comes to quality content.

By sharing influential bloggers content, you’re actually providing your audience with even more value and giving them the benefit of a different perspective. Sharing valuable content with your social networks shows your readers that you truly care about the quality of information you expose them to and it shows the blogger that you appreciate their work and are not afraid to share the love.

When I first relaunched my blog, sharing influential bloggers content is the first thing I did to begin getting on their radars.

I traveled around the blogosphere tweeting, “liking” and sharing nearly every piece of content they created because I wanted to show them that I valued their work. I also wanted to make sure that my name kept showing up in their mentioned feeds. The more authority bloggers see your name in their share feeds, the better your chances of them remembering you when you begin directly interacting and engaging with their content.

Which leads us to step two…

(2) Lay on the second layer with blog commenting – The next action you want to begin doing is a lot and I do mean A LOT of direct interaction with the blogger. The easiest way to start doing this is by directly engaging with bloggers and their content in the comments on their posts. I’ve learned that true conversations and connections in the blogosphere take place in the comments because you’re meeting bloggers on their home base. Commenting allows you to further the relationship and go much deeper than just a simple tweet or share of their content.

When you start blog commenting, you don’t want to leave what I like to call “one liner farts” . You know the ones…”Great post. Thanks for sharing!” I mean, what is that anyway?

You can’t expect authority bloggers to take notice of a comment like that, yet alone engage with you. In fact, many influential bloggers wont even approve one line comments and in many instances if you post too many of these one liner comments, you’ll get banned from commenting on their posts.

The way to comment and interact on an influential bloggers posts is the same as if you would were interacting with them face to face. To engage the blogger ask questions, share your personal experiences and opinions and most importantly, be authentic and TRANSPARENT in your comments.

Don’t leave fake faulty sounding comments that sound like you’re trying to be a “doctor of blogging” or something. The biggest thing that will attract a influential bloggers attention is authenticity When you comment, it’s okay to share your concerns, ask for advice or be vulnerable. These are the type of comments that engage the blogger and provoke them to react and interact with you. You don’t have to be an expert blogger to attract an authority bloggers attention.

There’s an art to blog commenting and when done correctly can open up a windfall of opportunities.

When I began doing this blog commenting interaction with influential bloggers, I’ve always received favorable responses from them. I’ve even landed an unsolicited guest post on an extremely popular blog through commenting on the bloggers posts. This is proof of the extreme effectiveness of blog commenting and what it can do for furthering relationships with authority bloggers.

(3) Further command attention by sending them free traffic - The next step that you can take to connect with an influential blogger and get on their good side is to send them a TON of free traffic. You want to be doing this as much as possible. Some of the easiest ways to do this to by sharing their content on social bookmarking sites like BizSugar.com and curating their content on sites like Scoop.it. You can even begin your own content curation on your blog by starting a weekly link roundup and including the influential blogger in your roundups.

Sending free traffic is ridiculously effective for catching the attention of influential bloggers and provoking recognition, interaction and engagement from them. If you choose to send them traffic through weekly link roundups, many of them may drop by and comment on your roundup thanking you for the mention. Some will even share and retweet your post to their social network, which is killer for getting traffic back to your post and your blog.

You can also find influential bloggers that have their own link roundups and submit your content to be published in theirs.

You don’t want to just slap any old blog post together, dub it quality content and think it’s going to get published in their roundup. Most authority bloggers only publish insanely valuable content in their link roundups, so make sure that you’re submitting only your very best work to them. If they see your work and think that your content is valuable, you’ll definitely get on their radar and this will add another layer to your relationship with them.

(4) Make them a feature in a Top 7 / Top 10 post – Another simple and extremely effective step you can take to further connect with influential bloggers is by doing Top 7 or Top 10 posts featuring the blogger with links pointing back to their website. When you’re doing a “top bloggers” post, you want to make sure that you’re thorough, being as specific as possible in the post and link to one (or more) of their posts explaining why you liked it and what you’ve learned from them.

This kind of post can be complied by simply pulling the best tips that you’ve learned from authority bloggers about a particular subject (i.e. content marketing, content creation, traffic generation, ect.) and including excerpts of the specific post that you learned the tips from. Write a paragraph or so about how you’ve used and implemented the specific tip they shared and the results you’ve produced with it. This is good for showing the blogger that you’re actually digesting and implementing the content they share. They will also be more inclined to interact and engage with your post and share it with their social networks because they see that you were authentic in your writing.

Note: Make sure that you give the blogger credit by directly linking back to the particular post that you took the excerpt from. Also, be sure to include their Twitter handle within the post as well to aid increasing their social exposure. Be sure that once you’ve published the post you notify the blogger via email, social media or any other outlet you can find them on.

A Top 7 post was one the very first posts that I did on my blog to get on Ms. Ileane’s radar. I did a Top 7 post where I shared the best traffic driving tips I’ve learned from 7 of the top bloggers online. I followed this exact format and once I published it, I contacted Ileane through Scoop.it to let her know about the post. She appreciated my featuring her and even commented on my article. Now here I am writing this guest post for her blog.

(5) Lay it on thick by speaking directly to them through video – Making a live video of yourself specifically for an influential blogger is by far one of the most effective steps to deepen the relationship. A live video simply can’t be ignored! You can even use this strategy as your initial contact method and send the video to them via email – which will give you a leaping head start in the relationship building process.

The most effective video would be one of you speaking directly to the camera (as if you were speaking directly to them in person – addressing them by name) and sharing with them why you enjoy reading their content. Don’t be afraid to show yourself to them and be real in your video.

You should share some specific posts that you particularly liked of theirs and share specific examples of how they’ve helped you with your blog. When interacting with influential bloggers in an effort to build a relationship, you always want to be as specific as possible.

They have hundreds of people vying for their attention on a daily basis, however, using video and being specific in the ways that they’ve helped you is a great way to stand out from the crowd and lets them know that you’re truly reading and enjoy their content. Plus, this solidifies to them that the content they’re putting out is really helping their audience.

I actually did this a while ago and this was how I initially connected with Lisa Irby of 2 Create A Website. At the time, I didn’t really realize what I was doing and the effectiveness that it would have of getting and keeping me on her radar to recall who I was. However, the video was extremely effective because a little over a year later when I relaunched my blog, that initial connection I made with her through that YouTube video ultimately aided me in getting a guest post spot on her blog.

Connecting with influential bloggers through video is extremely simple and it doesn’t take that much time or effort. And don’t worry, the video you create doesn’t have to be long at all, 2 or 3 minutes will suffice. If you’re camera shy, then this method wouldn’t work for you. However, I encourage you to challenge yourself in 2013 and do something that scares you. The very thing that scares you is most likely the biggest thing that will catapult your blog and business to the next level.

(6) Deeper and further maintain the relationship through email – This is the last and most important step in the 6 step process. Although social media is great for initially connecting with influential bloggers, on going email is still one the best ways to encourage deeper communication, sustain the relationship, and deepen the connection. Seeking to provoke deeper interaction through email is priceless and in many cases can result in you receiving some free valuable information through the email dialogue that their general audience doesn’t get. Kind of like free coaching.

When you’re able to get an open dialogue going with an influential blogger, it’s important to continue being real, authentic and humble in your interaction. Let them know how much you appreciate all that they do and have done for you. You can even seek to get exclusive advice on specific aspects of your business because you’ve now developed a solid relationship with them. Having this kind of direct access to an influential blogger is truly invaluable and is the key to having a solid long-term blogging career.

At the time of this post, I’m currently engaging in dialogues with a couple of influential bloggers I’ve connected with since the relaunch of my blog. I’ve gained so much insight through our email conversations that I never would have had access to if I’d stopped at only reaching out through social media. I’m even in the process of exploring some joint venture projects in this new year that I extremely excited about!

Marketing Takeaway:

As you can see, if you want to develop high level relationships with influential bloggers it’s going to require more than just random retweets, FB shares and one liner comments. It requires a high level of consistent high-quality interaction, unwavering persistence and a deep commitment to creating and sharing quality content to really show an influential blogger that you deserve their time and attention.

You might be thinking that this is a lot of hard work, but it’s really worth the effort in the end. If you follow these 6 steps exactly and you put as much time into building strong relationships with influential bloggers as you do on creating content, you’ll have a virtually indestructible business for years to come.

I’d love to hear your input. Do you feel this would be an effective relationship building process for your blog? What would you do differently? What steps are you currently taking to build relationships? Let me know in the comments below how you plan to connect with influential bloggers!

Hiya! I'm quirky, goofy, extremely random and a raving fan of Starbucks lattes. I'm an enthusiastic Internet/Affiliate Marketer & Blogger who's ridiculously passionate about traffic generation. My FREE ebook, The Lethal Traffic Blueprint, is filled to the brim with over 18 servings of hearty traffic goodness! I also publish in depth traffic case studies on my blog in an effort to make traffic generation even easier for my readers. Be sure to connect with me socially for additional traffic tips, tricks, and strategies!

Comments

I wanted to make sure that this post was a detailed as possible for those new bloggers who may not have any knowledge of how to connect and build relationships. I realize that this is a long post, however, I hope that those who take the time to read it get a ton of value from it.

Guest posting is definitely a great start, Darcies. Once you’ve got those relationships started, it’s important to maintain and cultivate them even more beyond just guest posting, building a deeper mutually beneficial relationship that could lead to many more greater opportunities.

I don’t think this article’s too long at all! It’s full of meaty advice – and it’s laid out in such a way that it’s easy to skim read if you want to cut to the chase and shoot through stuff you’re already familiar with.

I’ve started doing a lot of the things you’re recommending here but you’ve made me realize I need to be more specific and rigorous in targeting more high profile bloggers.

Thanks for this helpful advice, which I’ll definitely bookmark and share,

Great blog post and really appreciated. I’m relatively new to Twitter, only finally getting into that particular social network a few months ago, but I’m continually surprised by how easy it is to have a conversation with someone you NEVER would in real life.

Whether it’s a celebrity, an entrepreneur, or a venture capitalist. And it’s as easy as you say, it starts just by simply liking their content, retweeting and/or a quick message.

I’m going to bookmark this as I’ve moved more into the promotion part of our project at NE1UP.com and Twitter is a big part of our outreach. Your advice will come in handy.

Great tips on how to keep top bloggers in good humour. I share not because I want to be in their good books but because I want to. Being connected with top bloggers is always good. If they tweet your work as well then that’s great.
Also most top bloggers don’t bother replying to you. But its different with Ileane, she is lovely and she always responds to my questions which I am grateful.
Thanks for these tips.

You’ve hit the nail on the head with your comment. There’s so much more value to gain by being connected with authority bloggers beyond the traffic benefits. I look at the influential bloggers I’m connected with as valued mentors. I’ve learned SO MUCH from actively engaging and interacting with them and I’ve become a better blogger for it.

You’re so right, it’s great that authority bloggers like Ileane and Lisa take the time out to personally interact with their communities. It shows their commitment and passion for what they do.

Great article! I should spent more time on point 6. Points 1 and 2 are something which is crucial as my little experience shows. Could you give me an idea about a blog type which could generate more traffic than a music blog because I started with a music blog and I think music blogs are kind of the most difficult type of blogs to drive traffic to? Thanks in advance!

I believe that if you try hard enough, you can connect with even the most popular bloggers that may seem out of reach. Darren is indeed a top blogger, however, I think he’s accessible to those who are willing to do what it takes to get to him. In fact, Darren is on my list of bloggers to connect with and hopefully I’ll be able to land a guest post on his blog pretty soon. Don’t give up!

Thanks for an excellent post and a thoroughly enjoyable read! It certainly has a number of actionable tips which are so simple. I think that far too often people forget that building up a blog/business is about developing the right sorts of relationships with people in order to leverage their efforts and benefit mutually.

I also find that emailing them offering to help them with their blog/business works wonders for helping to gain their trust and support.

Hi Ti
I love connecting with other bloggers. I think it is fun to learn how other bloggers are doing and to share experiences and tips with them. A lot of bloggers are not very keen on connecting with other and I think that it is a shame. If you share other bloggers stuff and ask how they are doing, they might very well do the same to you.

I totally agree with you. Socially interacting with other bloggers is so much fun! I wish I’d started doing it a lot sooner when I first discovered this industry 7 years ago. Thanks for commenting. It’s always a pleasure to see your feedback.

I think blog commenting is the best and easiest way to get recognized by top bloggers in any niche. All bloggers use to moderate their comments and if you have written a good comment, blog owner will really notice it.

I agree. Blog commenting is defiantly one of the best ways to connect with top bloggers. Blog commenting is one of the main reasons I was able to grow so quickly and I still do quite a bit of it. How active are you with blog commenting? Do you engage in it frequently? Have any new opportunities opened up to you as a result of it? Thanks for sharing your input.

For some time, I’m not getting much time to do blog commenting on other blogs. But I try to reply to most of incoming comments on my blog. It was due to commenting efforts, I’m able to build a strong relationship with lots of top bloggers in the blogging niche.

Content is important, however, if no one sees it, there’s really no point. Building relationships with top bloggers is how you get the maximum amount of exposure to the content you create. Relationships can lead to guest posting opportunities where you can then create world class content for a larger audience. The added exposure will get more people to notice you and take note of the content you post on your own blog quicker. I’d suggest you read Ms. Ileane’s piece here: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/09/ileane-smith-content-isnt-king-interview.html she does a wonderful job of explaining the importance of relationships and why building them is more important than content.

I hope this helps you get a better understanding. Thanks for your comment.

This is probably the SOP I’ve been following for the last months and it’s really working. With some bloggers, I’m already on the Emails connection, with others I’m still on comments and Social Media, but it does works.

I’ve been planning to make a top list or feature them the last months, but I’m still focusing on creating more content before that.
Superb post!

Absolutely! I’m so glad to hear that you’re getting engaged and your efforts are working. I’m sure that if you keep pressing forward, you’ll get the results you desire. Oh, and I love your commentluv post. It’s important that we learn from our mistakes and do our best to improve. Thanks for commenting. I appreciate your feedback.

As long as you truly like them I agree with you otherwise it’s like kissing their behinds. The ones who you truly can relate to and offer you valuable guidance yes, comment away, feature in a video and share their stuff away like crazy. It’s also how we get to know one other, by commenting on other blogs. It’s amazing what you accomplished in just 3 months, congrats!

I agree, of course you want to do this only for those top bloggers you truly like and those that you really find value in their content. The power of blog commenting is amazing. Some may think this is an ‘old school’ or out of date method to do in order to get noticed, but in my experience it works better than any other method I’ve tried. Thanks for commenting. I appreciate your input!

I’m so glad to hear that you’ve found value in this post. That was my whole goal behind it, to clarify the process of connecting with top blogger. I’d love to hear about your progress with this, so please do keep us posted!

Hi ti seems like you would beat ane of traffic generation cafe. Nice intro and about the post the one thing that i do is write about them and tell them i’ve written. In most cases they respond. Ileane recently scooped one of my posts which had a link to hers’ and that sent me some clicks.

Lol, I haven’t quite connect up there with Ana as far as traffic is concerned, however, I have connected with her and she’s a wonderful top blogger. I hope to soon have a guest post on her site as well.

Yes, one of the most important keys to getting your guest post accepted is writing quality world class content. You can’t afford to be stingy, especially if you want to build a popular brand quickly.

Ti, Success of Every business boils down to relationship, it is complex science though. But It all starts with Interaction and nothing better than commenting, this strategy can backfire if it lacks the key element which is passion.
Congratulations on your remarkable achievement.

Exactly, success is not built alone, collaboration is a must! I’m glad to have realized that and I hope that many others who may be struggling with the concept find this article and the process is made simple for them.

For quiet some time now I`ve heard the big names in blogging talking about building / making relationships with one another but, despite numerous searches, I hadn`t been able to find any useful information on how to do that! So, what a joy it was to read your article about that very subject – THANK YOU !

I have certainly been following you for a few months, although I doubt that you`d recognise me, & I have found your articles to be full of info & life! They read as though you are actually reading them out loud!

Like any good article, yours has answered many questions but, in so doing, has made me think of many more I`d like to ask you – hope you don`t mind !?!?
I currently follow 100+ blogs & their respective FB Pages, when you started how did you decide what made a good post to follow?
How many blogs do you follow now?
Do you agree that you should always try to be the first one to leave a blog comment?
How much time did you spend making connections? What about now, the same?

Do you have any suggestions on how to make best use of limited time to get the most out of it to produce & share content?

So glad to see your comment, it really made my day. I’m elated that my article has provided you with what you needed. YOU and others like you are exactly why I wrote this piece.

I searched high and low for info about how to connect with top bloggers and I didn’t find any good info on it until I actually got close to a top blogger and became apart of their coaching group.

Once it was broken down for me, I took off running and I haven’t looked back since. I hope that this article does the same for you.

As far as your questions are concerned:

I’ve been in the IM/blogging niche for years now, so I had a HUGE list of blogs and people I was following. But none of them really gave the information I needed. The only blog that I still follow from when I first discovered the industry is Lisa Irby’s. She’s always been a wonderful mentor to me and I love how real and transparent she was in her content.

I base the blogs and people I follow now around their realness, relatability, transparency, integrity and their proof to produce real results – regardless of how big or small they are. Those are the most important characteristics that I feel any good blogger and business owner that can truly help you grow should process.

How many blog do I follow now? Gosh… I follow about 30 to 50 blogs now – give or take a few. And I only actively follow a small core group of those, around 10 or so. There’s a lot of content available out there, but I try to cut it down to the bare necessities and follow the ones I can quickly and easily earn the most from.

When I first started started blog commenting, I generally aimed to be in the top 5 or 10 comments for the purpose of high viability and driving fast traffic. However, now I look at commenting more so as a relationship building method and a way to directly interact with the webmaster more so than a traffic generation strategy. My focus with blog commenting now is more on the long-term relationships that can bring in the big traffic opportunities such as guest posting and potential JV partnerships.

I spent the majority of my time interacting and engaging and I still do today. Most of my time is spent on creating content and cultivating/sustaining engagement in my community.

If you have limited time, I would suggest that you spend most of your time creating content, specifically guests posts and aiming to build relationships with top bloggers. This is how you get the most leverage for your time because once you’ve built a relationship with a top blogger and produced great content for them the social marketing and traffic pretty much becomes viral and takes on a life of its own. You’re tapping into their influence and the creditably they’ve already established.

Nick, thanks so much for leaving such a thoughtful and insightful comment. You’ve really got my wheels turning and a lot of new ideas for future posts have surfaced as I’ve responded to your comment. Commeters and members of a thriving community like yourself are truly the best market research ever!

You’re right, I didn’t realize you’ve been following me. How did you discover me initially? I’d love to see more of you, so be sure to drop by my blog and leave your input. I truly value it!

Yes, retweeting is a great way to further engage with your followers. I’ve realized that most of my traffic actually comes from Facebook rather than Twitter. However, I like using Twitter’s platform much more that FB and I spend more time on Twitter. This just shows me where my audience likes to hangout and it looks like I’ll have to oblige them if I want to keep my social traffic up.

I’ve one question here, you advised to interact with influential bloggers through emails. I’m curious to know how would you know their email addresses. I mean what step you follow to know their email address before starting any conversation?

If you can’t directly find their email, you can just contact them through their “contact me” form. This is what I usually do. Normally the message goes directly to their inbox and when they reply you’ll be able to converse with them from there.

You can also try reaching out through through a Facebook message if all else fails.

Read something very near on other blog, getting noticed by influencer bloggers can real benefit for a blog (both in terms of money & traffic).
Guest posting is one of the easiest way to get interact with influential bloggers.

I`m about to share this guest posting strategy to attract more bloggers

Yes, guest posting is mutually beneficial. I’ve realized the importance of producing great content. Creating great content and giving it to the blogger is a great way to make a strong connection. It can be a lot on a top blogger to continue churning out high quality content so they really appreciate the contribution.

I think that following Basicblogtips has been one of the best things I’ve ever done to grow my blog. I am beginning to see growth on my blog from nothing about three months ago. Your suggestions about reaching out to other bloggers I have taken to heart. Where I need to get better is the area of video and the integration of video into my site is one of my top goals for 2013.
If I can offer a suggestion to other bloggers, it’s this. Continue to be courageous,2013 is going to be the year of the blogger!

Hi Ti totally agree with all your points, but i disagree with you on one thing i think commenting is the easiest part sharing is also easy but comments can give you a boost as well among other bloggers..

Commenting is definitely multi-purpose. I look at blog commenting more so from the angle of building relationships than anything else. However, the additional benefits are great as well. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

It has been probably 2 years when i have been touch with the bloggers, and the thing i have been looking for is, always create a healthy relationship and connections with bloggers. That has helped me a lot over these years

Time and time again I’ve seen some really great bloggers go unnoticed UNTIL they get some kind of mention from an A-list blogger, whether it’s on Twitter, a guest post, Facebook or whatever.

So I wouldn’t call this strategy ‘kissing butts.’ The bottom line is that if you want to be seen (sooner, rather than later), building relationships with influential people is one of those strategies that just plain works.

These are definitely some really good tips. Just people need to realize that building relationships takes time, not just effort. If you try to get in touch with a popular blogger and he or she doesn’t get back to you right away, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the blogger is ignoring you. You have to be both persistent and genuine without being too pushy.

You’re absolutely right. New bloggers will initially attempt to reach out to top bloggers but then give up too quick – thinking that they’re being ignored or what have you. In most instances, this is certainty NOT the case!

It’s a shame that most newbies give up so easily. That’s why I wrote this post, in hopes that it will provide a solid guide for those who may not know exactly how to go about the relationship building process.

Thanks so much for sharing your input and feedback. It’s a pleasure to see your comment!

Ti and Ileane,
Great post. Of all the things I’ve learned about having an online presence, this is probably one of the most important aspects. Years ago, when my bandmates and I first started promoting our music online, we learned that creating relationships with Internet DJ’s was integral to our success. Not only would they push our music online, they would also attend shows.

I’m glad to hear that you know all to well just how important building relationships with influencers are. It truly is a process that’s worth going through. And how awesome that you were in a band. I would’ve loved to hear your music.

I have to admit, I never thought about sending another blogger a video. I always thought sending a video to them would appear like spam. But video does seem to be the way the web is going nowadays, so why not.

Your result in just 3 months was simply amazing. Thanks for these wonderful tips. In this business, we really cannot stand alone only equipped with a good content. It is indeed easy to be successful if we know the right connections to turn to.

I’m so glad you enjoyed my post. Yes, I may re-purpose this into an ebook one day soon. Absolutely, video marketing is extremely powerful. That would be really cool should you begin making videos. I look forward to your video, lol.

Great tips Ti Roberts. I personally think that sharing writing valuable and informative guest posts for the authority blogs in your niche is the best method to connect with blog owner. And this method also bring lots of other readers who might become you regular reader, subscriber and finally customer.

Absolutely, Devinder. It’s important to align yourself with people who are going or already have what you desire. Learning from the best and opening yourself to experience new things is the fastest way to grow.

Looks like I need to take this into consideration. It makes sense to piggyback on other peoples’ success, I mean they already have the traffic that you want, so If they can send some of it your way even better. I already do some of these methods, but never really have fully implemented online relationship building. Thanks for the great info.

Awesome, Ashley. What methods are you currently doing? Have any new opportunities been opened to you because of your efforts?

I defiantly encourage you to go full force with this. I’m sure you’ll greatly benefit from it and you’ll find yourself given opportunities you never thought you’d have. I know I did. I’d love to follow your progress so keep us posted.

Connections & references with other bloggers is really important these days, because guest posting SEO technique is best among all SEO techniques and if you have bloggers in your friends list then you are lucky.

I use commenting a lot to connect with other bloggers but i know that alone will not do and i want you to suggest some other ways that you think will be also easy like commenting that will increase my blog traffic. thanks

The steps as laid out in this post are just about as simple and effective as it gets. I encourage you to take it a step further by putting in more effort to connect with top bloggers if your desire is to get more exposure and traffic. Point’s 3 through 6 lay out exactly how to do so, however, they do require more effort.

One thing that I’ve learned is that I’ll never get to the level I wanted to be at if I only stuck to doing the “easy” stuff like blog commenting and sharing top bloggers content on social media. It’s simple, however, it’s not as effective for maximizing your exposure.

I totally agree that content is not the only king. Even if we come with the best articles on the entire web, this doesn’t guarantee instant success. We need to be recognized and create a strong brand, so it is essential to get in touch with the best in the niche.

We as bloggers MUST network with the those bloggers who are more visible than us in order to work our way up in the ranks. Just like when you’re working hard to get a raise and more recognition in the 9 to 5 world. The same principals apply here.

If you can’t see value in this article then you’re not serious about blogging. I’ve tried some of the methods described here and should do it more often. This is the best way to interact with influential bloggers – do something for them before you ask for a favor. That way you don’t look like someone who’s only trying to take advantage of their position. It’s always a great idea to hang out with successful entrepreneurs if you want to become one as well.

I truly appreciate your input. It sounds like you certainly know the value and importance of networking with authority bloggers. There’s simply no way around it if you want to be looked at as a thought leader/ top blogger in your niche. Do you have any specific results you’d like to share with us from your networking experience? I’d love to hear them. Thanks so much for your input. I truly appreciate it!

I think the first 4 points are SPOT ON! Networking and connecting with influential and authority bloggers is essential, something that cannot be any easier to do than it is today! As for point no. 6 (email) don’t you think it will be taken care of when you get in touch with them for a guest-post? Great post though, detailed, and I thoroughly agree with everything you’ve said here Ti!

Yes, contacting the blogger for a guest post is a good start, however, I’m referring to the continued dialogue with the blogger with intent effort to deepen the relationship beyond just guest posting. Don’t just stop the conversation at guest posting inquiries, seek to really get to know the blogger and gain insight from them. Building a true connection that will last for many years to come.

Absolutely fantastic tips. Even in 2013, those are very valid tips for bloggers who are starting out (like myself). I have not noticed you using Linkedin.
Linkedin is a fantastic tool for meeting notonly influential bloggers, but people in any industry you are trying to infiltrate.
Thanks for sharing
-Ron

No, I don’t actively use Linkedin. I’ve heard and read many articles about how well Linkedin works for networking and connecting with influential people within your niche. I’m more prone to Twitter and Facebook, although I do have a Linkedin profile.

Hi,
Well-done with your post. My question to you is if someone is an introvert blogger, how can she or he get known by influential bloggers? Does introvert bloggers really make it in this blogosphere?

For instance, I am an introvert and find it difficult sometimes to be on social networking sites. So tell me is there anyway an introvert bloggers can relate with influential bloggers? We all can not be extrovert.

The short answer to your question, in my opinion, is no. I used to be the “introvert” blogger and never got any recognition or traffic, other than what I got from doing SEO, which was hardly anything.

If you want to build a wildly popular blog and brand you MUST get outside of your comfort zone and network with others. Bottom line. You may have some success, but never to the level of the Pat Flyn’s Lisa Irby’s, Kim Roach’s, Ana Hoffman’s and Ileane Smith’s.

My goal is to be with the likes of them and run right along side them. You have to decide what want to do for yourself. However, I encourage you to challenge yourself and do things this year that you wouldn’t normally do with your blogging and engagement. You’ll be surprised at the opportunities that will open up to you.

I am a first timer on your blog. I am myself a blogger. I started blogging 6 months ago and these tips will be in great help to me. I will also try to make friends with good bloggers so they will help with my blog promotion.

I think these points are for long-term policy and i personally think that it is very hard to do these kinds of stuff. There is a question that after how many days or time we will be connect with particular bloggers? after done all these things if they don’t want to be connect with you then it will be wastage of time and energy therefore i am not completely satisfied with your points.

Yes, this relationship building process does take effort and time, however, if you’re persistent in your efforts I have no doubt that you can connect with any top blogger you want to. You can’t have the mentality of giving up so easily or being lazy. Getting the type of connections and recognition you want takes hard work. If it’s something that you really want then you’ll continue to press onward towards achieving it. The choice is up to you.

i retweet and like articles naturally, never thought about maintaining connections with other bloggers but added few tips from this article and let me see how the result comes when i implement it slowly.

Yes, the relationship building process can be taken to a much deeper level as this piece outlines. I’m glad to hear that you’re going to begin implementing these steps. I’m sure that if you’re consistent with them, you’ll reap great benefits. Thanks for commenting!

So glad to see your comment, girly. I’m happy to hear you’ve found my post helpful. I DEF encourage you to whip out that cam girl. It works wonders. I checked one of your screen capture vids before and you have a great bubbly personality. I’m sure you’ll do well.

YES, we certainly do need to link up. Shoot me an email so we can talk more about it.

I personally use emails to connect bloggers because i don’t have much time to do all this stuff and these things definitely need a lot of time and patience. Therefore i often use email to build blogging relationship with bloggers and i think it is effective and low time consuming method.

Yes, email is a good way to connect with bloggers, however, not all top bloggers will respond to emails from bloggers they’re not familiar with. They’re time is limited as well. This post is a outline of how to ease into building the relationship with a top blogger, more specifically if you want to have a long-term mutually beneficial relationships with them beyond just guest posting. If time doesn’t allow, by all means do what you can. Whatever is working the best for you, stick to it.

I m new to blogging and always heard content is king but after reading your post, some other story comes out. I think for now I can follow point 1 and 2 mentioned by you. Lets start with you only, sharing your post and connecting with comments. May be we build good relation..:-)

Welcome to the blogosphere and BBT! We’re so glad to have you and I’m excited about the journey your about to embark on. I encourage you to take full advantage of this post and begin to implement all the steps a soon as you can. I’d look to keep up with your progress so please do drop back by and keep us posted. Also, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.

You can simply copy and paste an excerpt of this post on your blog site with a link pointing back to the original source of the content. You want to make sure that you have a link pointing back to the original source so you give proper credit to this blog site and also to makes sure Google doesn’t penalize your rankings for duplicate content (assuming your seeking to get traffic from Google).

It’s not the first ever post of yours Ti that ‘m reading and I’m feeling like a fan of yours now….Really amazing work…Connections are all that matter in blogging….better connection better traffic and sales…

I just realized I’ve yet to comment on this post, aside for responding the awesome BBT community.

I would like to shout a huge THANK YOU Ms. Ileane for allowing me to share my experience and provide value to your amazing community. It was truly an honor and it’ll definitely be one of my most memorable blogging moments!

I’m so glad you enjoyed my post. Simplicity and actionable steps was my aim with this post so I’m happy to hear that you feel that way. Keep me posted on your progress in implementing these steps! And let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

So glad you understand the importance of cultivating an engaging and viral community around your blog. Have you had any personal success implementing any of these steps in this post? If so, please share your experience with us!

Great post building solid connections with other bloggers, this is actually my favorite topic. I love connecting with other bloggers in my niche, sharing and learning from each other is what I really love.

I’ve been noticing that you’re doing a fabulous job regarding relationship building with other bloggers and using every single strategy to be on the top.

So glad to see your comment! Thanks so much for the kind words and I’m glad you found this post valuable.

You do a truly awesome job at building connections and relationships as well and you have an awesome community to show for it. You’ve been one of the biggest influences and inspirations for me as well since I’ve been on my blogging journey and I appreciate all that you do!

This blog post was extremely informative and has tons of helpful, actionable tips. Thanks for being so generous with all this useful advice. The fact that you’ve generated 19,828 visitors adds a lot of credibility to your post, but it’s obviously based on hard work and effective relationship-building strategies. Keep up the good work!

One of the things I stressed this year was building relationships with people and trying new things. I never knew how much you could really build relationships with people on LinkedIn. I have a cocktail blog I regularly update with history, cool drinks I find online, and creations I make. I found a cool bartending group with people that have been in the hospitality business for over 20 years. I’ve just been active posting good links, my own recipes, and just interacting with the members naturally (comments, bringing up fresh content, and discussions). Out of nowhere, the creator of the group contacts me and asks to not only help him promote a video but is going to give me some freebies (bartending books, tools, etc). Never did I think simply engaging can be this powerful.

I’m glad you’ve found success in connecting with other like-minded individuals in your niche. I’d love to hear how your engagement efforts continue to work for you so please do keep me posted. And, let me know if there’s anything I can do to further help you.

Content is important, but what’s more important is the connections and relationships that you build through the content you create.

I focus on creating my content directly for the people and the audience I want to attract, not for the sake of getting search engine traffic from Google.

So, in my case, content isn’t king when it comes to getting search engine traffic because that’s not my aim. However, content is king when it comes to grabbing and keeping the attention of the people that I’m attempting to build relationships with.

Great post and i specially understood, how important it is to connect with professional bloggers. Although my blog covers on automobile industry, we have respectable bloggers who have great reputation. Will certainly start building relationship from now onward. also subscribed to your post as i find them immensely helpful.

Hey Ti Roberts,
Nice post and Yes, all the points you mentioned above are very important for making connections with other bloggers. I really like the idea of sharing content on social media sites and Yes, Blog commenting and Guest posting is the best way to make connections with other bloggers. Thanks for sharing this post.